


Practice Makes Perfect

by pizzamclizza



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Established AsaNoya, First Kiss, Getting Together, Multi, Nishinoya Yuu & Tanaka Ryuunosuke are Bros, Practice Kissing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-24
Updated: 2021-02-24
Packaged: 2021-03-15 06:42:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,172
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29679984
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pizzamclizza/pseuds/pizzamclizza
Summary: Ryuunosuke Tanaka was only sure of two things: he loved to play volleyball and he loved Kiyoko Shimizu even more. Ok, sure, maybe she was a little out of his league and maybe she was totally uninterested in him but it didn’t hurt to dream. And with graduation fast approaching, he really needed to tell her that the way he felt about her wasn’t an act -- he meant it.
Relationships: Nishinoya Yuu & Tanaka Ryuunosuke, Shimizu Kiyoko/Tanaka Ryuunosuke
Comments: 8
Kudos: 23





	Practice Makes Perfect

**Author's Note:**

> hello this is the first fic i have written in 10 years? please be kind. 
> 
> dedicating this work to my oldest friends - thank you for encouraging me to write again! love u both

Ryuunosuke Tanaka was only sure of two things: he loved to play volleyball and he loved Kiyoko Shimizu even more. Ok, sure, _maybe_ she was a little out of his league and _maybe_ she was totally uninterested in him but it didn’t hurt to dream. And with graduation fast approaching, he really needed to tell her that the way he felt about her wasn’t an act -- he meant it. He thought about telling her after practice almost every day, but couldn’t work up the courage to even innocently ask her to go to dinner. How could she take his crush-confession seriously, especially when he literally asked her to marry him the first time they met. 

After practice one night, the team cleaned up the gym as usual and slowly trickled out of the school to head home. Tanaka looked for Shimizu, as usual, but she was already gone. When the team stopped at the bottom of the hill to get snacks from Coach Ukai’s shop, Tanaka decided to opt out of a rice ball today and instead walked home alone with just his thoughts. 

  
What started as a dumb, stupid crush in his first year was starting to turn into something more - in his head anyway. Every morning he woke up thinking of Shimizu and every night he went to bed thinking about Shimizu. He thought about her when he was brushing his teeth, making his lunch, even in math class. He couldn’t even remember when he started thinking about her this way. The only time she wouldn’t be in his thoughts was at practice. And Tanaka knew that this was absolutely obsessive — even Noya said that he didn’t think about Asahi that much. But, no matter how hard he tried to think about anything else, Shimizu was always there. 

About halfway through his walk home, Tanaka really wished he stayed behind to walk with Noya; his constant chattering would have at least drowned out the repeating ‘she’ll never notice you anyway’ in Tanaka’s head. And, okay, maybe the little voice in his head was right — Shimizu was a third year after all and honestly if he was her type she probably would have said something by now. _Maybe she’s not even interested in men!_ This thought was a little bit new to Tanaka’s inner-Shimizu-turmoil. Ever since that cute first-year manager joined, he noticed something a little...different about her. And the more he thought about it, he couldn’t remember her ever bringing a boyfriend around since he was on the team. And she never dated or showed any interest in the third years, even before they started coming out to the team. Maybe he was reading into it too much but...maybe she was gay.

\---------------------

“Shimizu’s not gay, Tanaka,” Noya tells him, with a mouthful of food. It’s a week later and the two boys are studying in Tanaka’s bedroom. “Asahi told me she’s bi, I think? But yeah not one hundred percent gay so, like, you could still hit it.”

Tanaka tries to make his sigh of relief not noticeable but it doesn’t work and Noya lets out a snort. “But, hey, maybe you should just, like, ask her out?” Noya says to his friend. “I mean, she is a third year Tanaka, better late than never!” 

Tanaka groans, “You say that like it’s so easy! She’ll just say no and then Yachi will ask her out and then I won’t even have a chance!”

Noya laughs out loud, “Bro, you’re thinking too much about this. How do you know that Shimizu would say no if you asked her out?” 

“...I don’t.” Tanaka replies sheepishly.

“Exactly! Just ask her tomorrow after practice! I’ll distract everyone so you don’t have to worry about saying something with everyone watching.” Noya smiles and pats his friend on the back. 

“That’s easy for you to say. I’ve never asked anyone out before.” Tanaka admits, turning a muted shade of red.

“Oh, shit, dude, I’m sorry.” Noya says, then, after a minute pipes up again, “Practice on me!”

“What?” Tanaka looks at his friend, confused. 

“Pretend I’m Shimizu and ask me out! That way, when you do ask her out tomorrow you’ll have this to think back to!” 

Tanaka thinks for a second. He has been pining over her for two years and, honestly, Noya’s right — what has he got to lose? “Alright! Let’s do it!”

The pair spend about an hour and a half practicing, two hours if you count the time Noya spent in the bathroom trying to get his hair to look like Shimizu’s so it would be more realistic. Lying in bed that night, Tanaka can think of nothing else but his potential date. 

\---------------------

Right at the end of practice the next day, as if on cue, Noya gathered the whole team in a huddle while Tanaka loudly announced he had to use the bathroom. The plan was to meet Shimizu in the hallway after she finished helping Takeda-sensei with some paperwork. Even though he and Noya practiced this a thousand times in his bedroom last night, he could feel his heart beating so much faster than normal. His hands were sweatier than usual; he kept wiping them on his shorts every ten seconds. His mouth was starting to get dry and he worried for a moment that he wouldn’t be able to even speak.

Suddenly, Tanaka heard Shimizu talking to Yachi down the hall. He took a deep breath, then called out to her, voice almost shaking. “Hey Shimizu, can I talk to you?”

  
Shimizu looked a little taken aback. “Oh, sure, Tanaka,” she turned to Yachi, “I’ll just be a moment, go inside and see if the guys need any water or anything.” Yachi smiled and nodded and opened the door to the gym. 

And just like that, Tanaka and Shimizu were alone. Together. In the hallway. Outside of the gym. And Tanaka was just _staring_ at her trying to think of literally any words to say. He opened his mouth to speak but nothing came out. He was so nervous even though Noya’s voice was in the back of his mind saying “Pretend it’s me!” 

“Tanaka, what’s on your mind?” Shimizu asked, stepping a little closer to him. 

He took a deep breath, clenched his fists, looked down and half-yelled, “Would you like to get dinner tomorrow night with me, Noya?”

Shimizu’s expression turned blank for a split second, only to be followed by laughter. “Oh, Tanaka,” she said between laughs, “oh God I’m so sorry.” she was laughing too hard to speak now, unable to catch her breath. 

“Oh man, you could just say no, you don’t have to laugh at me…” Tanaka slumped to the floor, defeated. 

Shimizu took a deep breath and tried to compose herself. “Tanaka I’m so sorry for laughing, but...you called me Noya.” 

Tanaka felt his soul physically leave his body. He called her _what?!_ That definitely ruined his chances now. He can just imagine his walk home with Noya already: “Hey how’d it go with Shimizu?” “Horrible, I called her your name to ask her on a date and she laughed at me.” How could he look at her ever again? Noya! Why did he have to call her Noya?! Tanaka wanted to disappear, to cease existing, to wake up from this horrible nightmare, when Shimizu finally said, “Yes, Tanaka, I would like to get dinner tomorrow.” 

\---------------------

Saturday afternoon, Noya stopped by Tanaka’s house, claiming he was there to study but really he was there to discuss The Date. Tanaka felt weird calling it a date. It didn’t _feel_ like a date, it just felt like two friends hanging out. He didn’t confess any feelings. She didn’t confess any feelings. They didn’t hold hands. They didn’t kiss. They grabbed some ramen at Tanaka’s favorite spot, then walked around town and just talked. It was interesting to see her outside of school, outside of volleyball. Tanaka always felt like he knew her, but it turned out there was so much he didn’t know. Shimizu’s favorite color was pink, she broke her arm in the third grade, her favorite food was tenmusu. Tanaka didn’t want to share that stuff with Noya though — that was for him. 

“Well, did you guys, like, hold hands or anything?!” Noya pressed. 

“No, no, it wasn’t like that!” Tanaka insisted, “We were just hanging out! Like I told you before it was not a date! It was just two friends hanging out! There is nothing wrong with that!” 

“Yeah, but you wanted it to be a date,” Noya said, and it was true. Tanaka did want it to be a date.

Tanaka groaned. All of this was new and hard to navigate. He spent almost two years openly worshipping Shimizu but now that he might have a chance with her, he didn’t know what to do. He was flustered at dinner and flustered walking around Miyagi and flustered when he got home. 

“Ok, ok, it wasn’t a date this time, but are you guys gonna hang out again?” Noya asked, seeing the turmoil on his friend’s face. 

“Oh, yeah, she actually texted me earlier asking if I wanted to run some errands with her tomorrow.” Tanaka grinned, suddenly forgetting the crisis he was going through internally. 

“Alright second date!” Noya cheered.

\---------------------

Tanaka waited for Shimizu outside the grocery store where they agreed to meet. To say he was nervous was an understatement. What if _this_ was a date? How would he know? The best way to figure that out would be to ask, but how do you ask that question? “Thank you for inviting me on your errand. Is this a date?” After saying that in his head, he realized how stupid it sounded. He decided that instead of obsessing over whether this was a date or not, he would just be grateful to hang out with Shimizu -- they were friends after all. 

After standing outside for what felt like hours, Tanaka felt his phone go off in his pocket. He quickly turns it over and unlocks it to see a text:

**_Kiyoko Shimizu_ **

Tanaka, where are you?

Seeing this text made Tanaka panic. While he was notorious for being late for almost everything, he made sure that he left extra early just so he wouldn’t keep Shimizu waiting. Before responding, he scrolled back in their messages to see when the agreed upon time was. Then, he looked at the clock on his phone. Then, back to the message where it clearly says they planned to meet at 4 o’clock. It was now 4:22. Tanaka just spent twenty minutes standing outside like a delinquent. “Shit.” he said to himself and walked inside the grocery store. 

“Oh, there you are Tanaka!” he heard as he entered the store. Shimizu was waving to him from the produce section. “I was standing over here waiting for you, but I figured you were probably running late.”

“Oh, yeah, you know me!” Tanaka laughs, but feels relieved that she didn’t notice him standing a few feet away from the door, the back of his head definitely visible from where she was waiting for him. 

Shimizu smiled, “Anyway, thanks for your help today. I need to pick out some things for dinner. My parents and brother are away so I’m by myself tonight.”

Tanaka gulped. Okay, _maybe_ this was a date. He followed her around the store, helping pick ingredients and chatting about school and volleyball and Tanaka’s sister and Shimizu’s brother. They talked for so long about almost nothing that they both didn’t notice they walked all the way to Shimizu’s house. 

“Oh, I didn’t even realize we had been talking for this long.” Shimizu said, rummaging through her purse to find her keys. She unlocked the door and turned to Tanaka. “Come on in. You’re hungry right?” 

Tanaka really thought he was going to die. Kiyoko Shimizu is inviting him in. To make dinner. While no one is home. Even in his dreams he couldn’t imagine anything like this. He felt the anxiety from the other day creep up on him. His palms started to sweat; his mouth became dry. He resisted the urge to quickly text Noya. Wordlessly, he followed her inside. 

This was _definitely_ a date. 

Inside, Shimizu got right to work preparing dinner. Tanaka followed her into the kitchen, loudly proclaiming how great he was at cooking and offered to take over preparation of the meal. Shimizu laughed, but insisted that she would do it herself and he could watch if he wanted. So, that’s what Tanaka did. He sat and watched as she cut vegetables, prepared rice, mixed ingredients for a sauce. He tried to make small conversation, but Shimizu was so lost in cooking that she could barely respond. After about forty-five minutes, dinner was served -- a simple vegetable stir fry over rice. 

They ate almost silently, sitting across the table from each other. Shimizu would occasionally leave a hand on the table for a few moments before deciding to move it, brush a piece of hair behind her ear, whatever she could do to let Tanaka know that she was flirting. And Tanaka didn’t even notice. He was barely keeping it together, struggling to even make eye contact with her during the meal. Even though Tanaka found it so easy to talk to Shimizu, once he realized this was Absolutely A Date, he froze. And he’s the one who asked her out in the first place! But, he and Noya only practiced the asking out part -- he didn’t know how to do any of the other stuff! And he had to think of something to do or say because if he didn’t, he doubted Shimizu would be cooking him any more meals. 

“Uh, that was, uh, really good,” Tanaka barely manages to say at the end of the meal. “Do you...want help with the dishes?” he offers, hoping this will be a way to break the ice a little. 

Shimizu perked up. “Yes that would be great, thanks Tanaka.” She grabs her dishes and chopsticks and makes her way back into the kitchen to the sink. Tanaka follows. “Do you want to wash or dry? Which do you prefer?”

“I’ll dry! I like that better anyway.” he smiled, then grabbed the dish towel that was on the countertop. He stood next to Shimizu at the sink, waiting for her to pass on the clean bowls and pots and pans. Tanaka had helped friends do chores before, but it never felt so familiar. She passed him the pan she used to fry the vegetables and their fingers touched ever so lightly, and he swore he saw her blush, just a little. _Oh shit,_ Tanaka thought, _I gotta do something...  
_

“Hey, Shimizu, do you want to go for a quick walk? Before I head back home?” he asked once they were done with the dishes, hoping that he would actually get up the courage to do something, _anything_ , to let her know that he really meant all of the things he had been saying the last two years.

“Sure, my family should be home soon anyway,” she said, “it would be better if the two of us weren’t here when they got back.” She walked to the door and started putting on her shoes. Tanaka followed, heart in his throat, wondering how exactly he was going to try to hold her hand on this walk. He should have practiced this with Noya too.

They walked so close to each other and Tanaka was sure Shimizu was doing it on purpose. He was trying his best to dry his hands on the inside of his hoodie pockets but eventually he decided to just take them out and let his arms hang by his sides as he walked, subtly rubbing the sweat off on his jeans. It was hard to make conversation. One of them would say something, the other would reply, and then the topic would die out. The tension between them was palpable. 

_Ok you just gotta do it,_ Tanaka thought. He took a deep breath and was about to reach for her hand, but Shimizu beat him to it. She clasped his hand effortlessly and smiled at him. “You were taking too long.” she said and laughed. Tanaka laughed too, a huge smile creeping across his face. They stayed like that for the rest of their walk, laughing and joking and holding hands. It was so easy. It was easy to do this. What was Tanaka even so afraid of in the first place? His sweaty hands? In retrospect, it was a stupid thing to worry about -- all your palm sweat comingles anyway. And if holding hands was so easy, maybe a kiss would be easy too. Yeah, a kiss can’t be that hard, right? As they turned the corner onto Shimizu’s block, still holding hands, Tanaka began to psych himself up for a sweet first kiss.

They stopped at Shimizu’s doorstep, still hand-in-hand. Tanaka’s heart was pounding in his chest. He could not believe he was really about to kiss Shimizu. She was standing in the doorway, staring at Tanaka, waiting for him to make some kind of move. They stood there together just looking at each other, when Tanaka finally leaned in to kiss her. Shimizu, blushing, closed her eyes and pursed her lips, but when she met him, there was no opposing force. He had just pressed his lips against hers with no effort. She opened her eyes and pulled back, looking disappointed. She did not expect it to be this bad. Tanaka was confused - isn’t that how kissing worked? You just put your lips together, right? Was there supposed to be more to it? 

Shimizu gave him a small smile and unlocked the door. “Goodnight Tanaka.” was all she said before heading inside alone. 

\---------------------

Tanaka had never been more embarrassed in his life. How could he mess up a kiss? It looked so easy on television and in movies! Everything else ended up being easy, why wasn’t this easy?! He decided to call Noya on his walk home, hoping his friend would be able to help calm him down.   
“Hey! How did the second date go?” Noya asks when he picks up. 

“Bad!” Tanaka almost yells into the phone. “Well, it started off great. We went grocery shopping and she told me her family wasn’t home-”

“Oh shit!” 

“And then we went to her place and she cooked us both dinner-”

“Oh hell yeah, free food!” 

“And I helped her clean up and then we went for a walk and she held my hand and-”

“She held your hand?! Yes, bro!” 

“Let me finish! Ok, so she held my hand and then I was embarrassed I didn’t make any moves so when we got back to her house I tried to kiss her but....it was...bad.”

“Oh, like, she’s not a good kisser or something?”

“No, _I’m_ the bad kisser!” Tanaka groaned into the phone, defeated. “I blew it, dude. Now she’s definitely gonna go date Yachi.” 

Noya is silent on the other end of the line for a moment. “Ok, what are you doing tomorrow? Come over after practice and we can talk about it. I’ll even treat you to a snack at the shop!” 

Tanaka thought for a moment. “Okay, yeah, that probably would make me feel better. Thanks, Noya.” 

\---------------------

The next day, after practice, Noya and Tanaka sat in Noya’s bedroom, pretending to study but really talking about the Second Date. Tanaka explained what had happened when he “kissed” Shimizu in detail, and how she just said goodnight and didn’t even text him. He had no clue what to do. Where did they even stand now? At first, he thought he definitely had a chance with her, but now he wasn’t so sure. 

“Alright, so you messed up the first kiss, she can’t hold it against you forever,” Noya said, trying to cheer up his friend. “I mean, it’s hard to know what to do if you’ve never done it before.”

“Hm, yeah, I guess.” Tanaka replied, still feeling defeated. His friend was right, though. How can you be perfect at something you didn’t know how to do? A lightbulb went off in his head. “Noya, you know how we practiced me asking Shimizu to dinner?”

“Oh yeah!” 

“Can we maybe also practice...kissing?”

Once Tanaka said it, it sounded so stupid. Practicing kissing with his best friend? He wished he could take it back, but before he could say anything Noya replied. “What a good idea!” 

Noya quickly moved to sit facing his friend. They were already sitting next to each other on the floor, close enough that he didn’t have to adjust too much. “Ok, first, kiss me the way you kissed Shimizu and then we’ll work from there.” Tanaka hesitated at first, then leaned in and placed his lips on Noya’s and just stayed there for a moment before pulling away. “Oh, God, _that’s_ what you did?!” he laughed, “You gotta make an effort!” 

“What do you mean ‘make an effort’?” Tanaka asked, annoyed. “You put lips on lips, that’s just how it goes, right?”

“Yeah, but, was that fun? Kissing should be fun!” 

Tanaka groaned. “Okay, then, what would _you_ do, Mr. Kissing Expert?”

Noya grinned, then kissed Tanaka hard. He was not expecting it. It was so different from what he tried to do with Shimizu. He felt passion in this kiss. Noya pulls away, leaving Tanaka blushing. “That’s what I would do.” he says with a big smile. 

Tanaka was dumbstruck. “Can you...do that again?” he asks and Noya does. He leans in, taking Tanaka’s face in his hands and kisses him. And this time, Tanaka kisses back. He lets Noya take the lead, following his friend’s movements. Noya parts his lips and so does Tanaka, both of them moving closer together. He instinctively wraps his arms around his friend as they kiss deeper. Noya starts to pull away, but Tanaka pulls him back in, still eager to learn. He feels his friend smile as he kisses him back.

Eventually, they both pull away. Noya is grinning and Tanaka is blushing. He did not expect that at all. “Noya, I didn’t know you were a good kisser.” he says, still kind of awestruck by what had just happened. 

“Asahi told me once!” He said proudly, still smiling. “We could keep practicing if you want.”

Tanaka wanted to, but hesitated. Although it felt good it was still weird. He knew for sure he wasn’t gay but it was still strange to make out with your best friend to practice kissing someone you want to date. Even still, he really didn’t want to mess up with Shimizu again. “Yeah, how do you know when to do that lip-part thing?”

\---------------------

When Tanaka planned to meet up with Shimizu that Saturday, he was more than prepared. After the disaster that was the end of their second date, he knew he really had to make it up to her. He showed up extra early to meet her at the local park — he absolutely could not be late this time. As he waited, he planned what he was going to say to Shimizu in his head. He was so lost in thought that he didn’t even notice when she showed up. 

"Tanaka?” She said, tapping him on the shoulder. He let out an involuntary yelp as she touched him. 

“Ah geez Shimizu you scared me!” Tanaka laughed. “Uh, thanks for coming to meet me. I wanted to talk about some stuff. Do you want to stay here? Or we can walk down by the picnic tables? Whatever you prefer.”

She thought for a moment before agreeing to just stay where they were. They had met up by a large tree in the park, one that was still in view from the walking path, but still secluded enough that no one would really notice them much. “If this is about last week, I —“

Tanaka cuts her off. “No this isn’t about that. Not really anyway. Even though I am really sorry and sort of embarrassed that that happened.” He took a deep breath. “Ok,” he said, “I know that these past two years I’ve made a big show about how I think you’re beautiful and perfect and a goddess and I know it just seems I’m doing it because I don’t want anyone to bother you or whatever but I’ve always meant it. I mean, at first it was just a silly dumb crush, but...I really grew to like you, Shimizu. And I wanted you to know before you graduated. Even if nothing ever happens between us I just needed you to know.” 

Shimizu smiled softly. “You dummy,” she laughed, “I like you too.” She stepped closer to him, wrapped her arms around his shoulders, and kissed him. And thankfully, this time Tanaka was prepared.

**Author's Note:**

> thank u for reading! i hope you enjoyed this little story!!  
> literally started as a joke in the group chat, so i had to write it.  
> sequel fic coming very very soon! stay tuned :)


End file.
